Crushed
by DieAstra
Summary: A little missing scene for episode 2x03 "Home" - when Ed was waiting to be crushed.


**Crushed**

Missing scene for episode 2x03 „Home"

Three minutes. Ed had only three minutes left before he would be crushed to death like a damn beetle. And he couldn't do anything about it.

He lay flat on his back, motionless, watching the countdown on his arm ticking away. At first he had tried to get up but like a turtle on its back he was stuck. That's when realization kicked in. He'd told Gordon to contact the ship but he knew it would be in vain. Nobody could get here in time.

This had been meant to be just a short trip, a happy mission to let Alara know that they'd found a solution. Ed hadn't planned to die today. Hell, when do you plan on that? Somehow it all had gone terribly wrong. One moment he had been talking to Alara's father at the door, the next he was shot by this strange guy. He didn't even know why.

He had been lucky that the gravity suit did not give in right there and then but maybe that would have been better. Better than to draw out the inevitable. Three minutes wasn't enough time to think of everyone he left behind.

He thought of Kelly. Oh God, Kelly. She would be heartbroken. He could only hope that the teacher guy was indeed good for her. She deserved to be happy. Maybe if he had more time he could have found a way to make their relationship work, but now it was too late. He hoped it wouldn't destroy her. She was a damn fine officer.

He was wondering what his obituary would say. This really wasn't a good way to die. So stupid. He'd been in serious situations before but he always fought against all odds. Right now he couldn't lift a finger. The weaker the suit got the more he felt the weight pressing down on his chest. He was only able to take shallow breaths. His lungs hadn't much room to expand. He tried not to panic but not getting enough air in made his head dizzy. His vision started to swim. He couldn't see the numbers properly anymore but the clock in his head ticked down mercilessly.

Thirty seconds. Twenty-nine.

Suddenly Alara's father was next to Ed and started to drag him towards the ship, mercilessly yanking on his right arm. It felt as if he was ripped into pieces. He didn't dare to cry out to not scare the guy away but he couldn't suppress a groan.

He screwed his eyes shut, gritted his teeth and concentrated on ticking off the seconds. Twenty seconds. Fifteen. Ten.

His gravitation suit gave a little bleep and went out, right under his left knee. The effect was immediate. All of Xelaya seemed to crush onto him in this one little spot. He could actually hear his shin bones break. They made a grinding noise.

"Gaah!"

He couldn't help crying out then. It felt as if an elephant had stomped down onto him, shattering his leg to pieces. When he was a child he once had seen a stuffed one in a museum. It had looked huge and scary and he had pressed a little closer to his dad who assured him that elephants had died out decades ago and wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore.

He had been extra careful from then on to not step on any small insects. Funny the things your mind replays when you are delirious.

He could not give even a strangled cry when his other leg followed the first. He was too busy breathing through the white hot pain, trying to get at least some air into his lungs, all the while Alara's dad still was pulling his arm out of its socket and Gordon was shouting "A little further" all the time.

Why did they even bother, couldn't they just let him die in peace? He wanted to shout at them but no sound came. Soon the pressure would reach his chest and then it finally would be over.

Ed didn't remember the countdown hitting zero or how he passed out. He must have though because when he woke up he was in sick bay and Doctor Finn was just moving the bone knitter from his left leg to the right. She stopped when she saw that he was awake and rushed to his side.

"Captain! I didn't expect you to wake up so soon. I'm afraid I am not finished yet with your legs but your lungs are back to normal. How's the breathing?"

Ed had already noticed how light his chest felt. The pressure was gone. He nodded thankfully and took deep steady breaths. Claire went back to work on his leg. He could feel the bones growing together bit by bit. It hurt but it was nothing compared to what he had felt on Xelaya. Still he would put a recommendation into his report that they find a way to make these machines less stingy. Why had nobody thought of this before? Then again he probably shouldn't complain too much. It used to be that a broken leg took weeks to heal, while he was fully recovered about an hour later.

Well, not fully recovered. Claire told him to not put too much strain on his legs for the next few days. He promised to rest but would not let her keep him away from saying good-bye to Alara in the hangar. The good doctor only allowed it if he went straight to bed after.

He had no objection to that. After hugging Alara he stepped to the side and put on a stony expression. He didn't want her to see his raw emotions but he also did not want her to feel any guilt. She didn't need to know that he still experienced twinges and cramps when standing for too long. Maybe it would be something he'd keep for the rest of his life, like his grandfather whose scars always told him of weather change.

Thankfully there wasn't too much weather change on a space ship with its artificial environments.

But Ed didn't mind having a reminder of Alara in case she never returned to the Orville.

He'd told Claire to leave a little scar for this exact reason.

The end


End file.
